Union Minister of Chemical and Fertilizers, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya addressed the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), here today. Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers and New & Renewable Energy graced the occasion as guest of honour.

Addressing the event, Dr Mandaviya congratulated NPPA for working more as a facilitator, not merely as a regulator. He highlighted their noteworthy contribution towards ensuring availability and affordability of medicines in the last 25 years.

The Union Minister also praised the Indian Industries for continuously producing quality products. He urged them to produce medicines and bring innovative research with the goal of ensuring good health and well-being of the people, not only for commercial purpose.

Dr Mandaviya assured Indian pharma companies of continuous support from the govt. He highlighted the PLI 1 and PLI 2 schemes for the industries, which has helped in bringing about indigenous manufacturing of many critical APIs in the country. He also recalled the positive contribution of Indian pharma companies during the Covid crisis and highlighted the importance of cooperation and collaboration between the govt and industry in bringing quality healthcare to the masses

Shri Bhagwanth Khuba praised NPPA for being in service of the country and the Pharma sector successfully for the last 25 years. He stated that “NPPA ensures availability of affordable medicines without harming the interests of the industry”. He also expressed his optimism that with the launch of the two applications today, NPPA is expected to further carry on its work in a smooth and efficient manner in the coming years”.

At the inaugural session, Integrated Pharmaceutical Database Management System 2.0 (IPDMS 2.0) and Pharma Sahi Daam 2.0 App were launched.

IPDMS 2.0 is an integrated responsive cloud based application developed by NPPA with technical support from Centre for Advance Computing (C-DAC). It is envisaged to optimize synergies in operations in order to promote Government’s thrust on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ as it would provide a single window for submissions of various forms as mandated under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO),2013. It would also enable paperless functioning of NPPA and facilitate the stakeholders to connect with National Pharma Pricing Regulator from across the country.

Pharma Sahi Daam 2.0 App will have updated features like speech recognition; availability in Hindi and English; share button and bookmarking medicines.  This version of Pharma Sahi Daam also has facility for launching complaints by consumer through the consumer complaint handling module. The App will be available in both iOS and Android versions.

A publication titled ‘An overview of Drug Pricing @ NPPA 25 year Odyssey’was also launched at the inaugural session.  The publication chronicles not only the 25 year journey of NPPA but also highlights the evolution of the drug regulatory system in the country with special emphasis on pricing regulation.

Earlier, Shri Kamlesh Pant, Chairman, NPPA had delivered the welcome address. Ms S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals,and Dr. Vinod Kotwal, Member Secretary, NPPA were present in the event.

Stakeholders from the pharmaceutical and MedTech devices industry, Central and State Governments, Price Monitoring and Resource Units, Civil Society, patient advocacy groups, Pharmaceutical Research and Academic Institutions, Think-Tanks and media representatives from all over the country were also present on the occasion.

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MV/SK